“Mehr als übers Wetter reden”. Co-creative and collaborative development and implementation of empirically based training and teaching modules for climate education

The project “Mehr als übers Wetter reden” (More than just talking about the weather), funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU, the German Federal Environmental Foundation), is a didactic cooperation between scientists from three universities – the University of Passau, Freie Universität Berlin and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The project aims to sustainably improve teaching in schools on the subject of climate education. Its focus is on the development and implementation of:

a) training concepts that support (prospective) teachers across all three phases of teacher training in both planning and implementing critically controversial, non-moralizing and didactically (both historically and politically) sound climate education.

b) teaching modules that address the central future issue of sustainability in an interdisciplinary and systemic way and specifically promote students' democratic, future, ambiguity and design skills in order to enable them to participate in society in a responsible, confident and active manner.

Climate education is not to be understood as a mere means of imparting knowledge, but as a crucial contribution to social exchange, as well as to joint communication and orientation, which focuses on citizens as “everyday” climate actors. The aim is to consistently take into account the perspectives and interests of all parties involved – from students to teachers – and integrate them into the educational process.

Approach

The project is based on a bottom-up approach that focuses on the practical perspectives of both teachers and students:

• Empirical surveys: Teachers and students are interviewed in order to seriously consider and productively address their interests, patterns of interpretation and potential points of resistance.
• Co-creative development: Based on these findings, practical training and further education courses as well as application-oriented teaching and learning materials are developed. These are designed to enable learners to critically reflect on their own ideas and strengthen their political judgment.
• Feedback loops: The materials are tested in collaboration with student teachers and iteratively revised in practical phases.

The project places particular emphasis on productively countering the internal resistance and indifference to the topic of climate change observed in teaching practice, such as criticism of a moralizing charge or a lecturing approach. This is to be achieved through the co-creative and collaborative development, testing and implementation of practice-oriented and innovative teaching and learning tasks.

Sustainability and multiplier function

The project aims to promote the professionalization of (prospective) teachers through a co-creative development process. The provision of all further education and training content and teaching materials as Open Educational Resources (OERs) allows for a strong multiplier function as well as sustainable dissemination and effectiveness.

Long-term objective

The project “Mehr als übers Wetter reden” reimagines teaching and learning strategies in climate education. It combines substantiated knowledge with the perspectives and interests of all those involved in the educational process. This not only promotes the development of competencies, but also strengthens school development and social self-understanding in a sustainable manner.